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Paper short abstract

This contribution examines how distinctive hydrographic features and dynamic environmental processes—such as springs, sinkholes, lakes, torrents, and flash floods—stimulated myths, folklore, and ritual practices.

Paper long abstract

Hydrographic features have played a crucial role in shaping imaginaries, beliefs, and narratives rooted in local traditions. From a hydrologist’s perspective, particular importance lies in water bodies and environmental processes whose unusual characteristics deviate from everyday experience and foster myth-making. Springs, sinkholes, lakes of various origins (e.g., maar, proglacial), peat bogs, mountain torrents, and waterfalls have often served as symbolic centers of interpretation and ritual practices across cultures.

Their extraordinariness derives from specific physical and chemical attributes: water color (black, red, azure), distinctive odors (hydrogen sulfide, methane), unusual temperature regimes (geysers, ice-free waters in winter, “soup-like” lake stratification), or ecosystem vitality (absence or abundance of life). In addition, dynamic environmental processes—degassing, peat bog explosions, flash floods, or the occurrence of dry valleys—triggered attempts at explanation, frequently expressed through mythological or folkloristic narratives.

The perception of such phenomena resulted in hydronymy (names imbued with symbolic meaning), the creation of local narratives, and the emergence of cult practices, which in some cases contributed to the unintentional protection of natural sites. These interactions highlight the need to regard hydrographic features not only as components of natural systems but also as essential elements of geo- and cultural heritage.